148 FOR THE FLAG

boarding the tug. When he had reached me at the hatch,
Count d’Artigas and Serk6 joined us.

Captain Spade and the crew, with the exception of four
men who had entered a small boat which had just been
lowered, remained on the schooner. These men carried
with them a long hawser, probably intended to tow the
Ebba through the reefs. Was there a creek among those
rocks where Count d’Artigas finds a safe shelter from the
surf? Is this his port of destination ?

The #ééa being separated from the tug, the hawser
connecting it with the boat tightened, and half a cable’s
length farther the sailors made it fast to the iron rings
fixed in the rocks. Then the crew, hauling it, slowly
towed the schooner.

In a few minutes the £dda had disappeared behind
the rocks and from the sea, not even the top of her masts
could be seen.

Who in the Bermudas would imagine that a ship was —
in the habit of putting into port in that hidden creek ?

Who in America could imagine that the rich yachtsman,
so well known in the western ports, is also a dweller in
the solitudes of Backcup?

Twenty minutes later the boat came back towards the
tug, bringing the four sailors.

It was clear that the submarine vessel was waiting for
them in order to set out again—whither ?

The whole crew were now on the platform, the boat
was in tow at the stern, we began to move, the screw
worked at half turns, and the tug, on the surface of the